Piano Magic

for Linda McCorkindale

Mother and daughter tilt their heads the same way,
And the other magic enters, discovers dazzled day
Where the white keys open wonders - a pagan lover
Rare as unicorn, a moon above a highway, the bare
Hard grace of winter light, the instant of creation
Webbing everything alight in scintillation.

Mother and daughter tilt their souls another way,
And the other other magic enters - the rough play
Of shadow, where the black keys barter fingers
For surprises, pianos drown, the black dress lingers
In the intimate mud, werewolves lick the wound
Of feeling human, and eclipses eat the moon.

Then mother and daughter grasp both magics, hold
The Ethiopian stew of wildness in the bold
Elastic bread of unity, and they savor the whole price.
The seeker scales the dark cliff to grasp the edelweiss.